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-ˋˏ " you don't usually get all flustered, it's cute. " ˎˊ-
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"I'll be back soon Alexander, I'm just going to get groceries. Mom will be back around 7." I leaned on my brother's chipped white-painted door frame. "I wish I could find someone to babysit you, I promise I'll find someone soon. I hate that you're always alone."
"It's okay, really. I don't mind being alone, I'm used to it." He put on a fake smile, but me being his big sister, I saw right through it and hugged him.
"I'll find a babysitter soon, I promise." My brother nodded in response and watched as I waved before walking out the front door.
Thankfully, the market isn't that far away from our small home so it wasn't a far walk. As I walked to the local store I passed bushes, kids playing outside, those same soccer-moms that always go for runs early in the mornings, things that I've always seen. Everything was familiar. The boisterous chatter and laughter of children and parents, all of it.
I opened the glass door to the local market with a sign that read "open" in bright red paint. Usually, the manager would be stood near the doors, greeting every customer with a bright smile. But today, he wasn't there. 'Odd,' I thought. I picked up a red basket and made my way through the aisles, checking the list scribbled onto a crumbled-up note after picking up a new item and adding it to my basket.
"So, just give the customer a warm greeting, make them feel welcome! Then you just have to ring up all of their items, put them in the bags, then tell them the total. I think you can figure the rest out for yourself." I heard a familiar old man laugh.
By the sounds of it, they've hired a new worker. I continued to eavesdrop, as I didn't see any harm in doing so. It was just the manager teaching the new worker how to do their job.
"Alright, got it, thanks." Someone- presumably a teenage boy, replied.
"You'll do great kid!"
That new worker sounds familiar. Do I know him? No, probably not. If I do, probably just a classmate. They talk awfully loud.
I double-checked my crumbled list before turning the corner to the checkout. Once I saw that I had gotten everything needed, I made my way over to the counter with my eyes concentrated on the basket.
"Hi, ma'am-"
I froze, and it was obvious the cashier did too by the way he cut off his own sentence.
